Laura Zigman and Gap Khakis
In January, The Boston Globe published a story about the writer Laura Zigman. Maybe you remember her as the author of the bestselling 1998 novel Animal Husbandry. Or maybe you just remember the movie adaptation called Someone Like You starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd. When I think of Animal Husbandry, I think of chick lit that was more literary than what is currently marketed that way. Remember the 1999 novel A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank? To me, these two novels — plus Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding — encapsulate a specific late 90s vibe. They were like the literary world’s version of Gap’s dancing-in-khakis ads.
Zigman’s later novels didn’t match the success of her debut. (Side note: This was also true for Bank, who died last year. In fact, her second novel was given, in some views, an unnecessarily snarky review from a [now] massively popular author.) Zigman’s 6th novel, Small World, was just released, and the Globe piece was published on occasion of its launch at Harvard Book Store.
The thrust of the article was how Zigman had never recaptured the success of Animal Husbandry: “…literary success is precarious, and what followed was a slow walk into a dark pit, as novel after novel faced mixed reviews, and dwindling sales, and two film options came and then went nowhere. By the time her fourth book was published, in 2006, and it, too, failed to recapture that best-seller magic, her own agent suggested she stop writing fiction. ‘You’re not Nora Ephron,’ she said.” “Zigman luck,” is her family’s term for their tragedies and setbacks.
Yet then this: “But at some point, her agent’s ‘Nora Ephron’ dagger turned into rocket fuel, and Zigman became determined to prove her wrong.” Time will tell whether Small World will reverse “Zigman luck,” but this story made me want to tell her that even having *one* book reach bestseller status — let alone get published — is huge 👏🏻. I’m not saying Zigman should “settle,” but perspective can be so wonky.
There are so many I admire who aren’t superstars. In fact, I often prefer underdogs. Here’s a reminder that it’s worth it to dig deeper…even if it’s not an “it” thing — like khakis?
originally published on instagram